Interview with Raymond Ashton

British private served with 1st (Machine Gun) Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div in GB and North West Europe, 1943-1945

REEL 1 Recollections of period as civilian living in Streatham and Thornton Heath, GB, 1925-1942: family; voluntary work with Boy Scouts at Croydon, 1939-1940; erecting Morrison Shelters; stowing away aboard merchant vessel MV Stork, 1940; membership of 62nd (Norbury) Bn Surrey Home Guard; memories of father; German Air Force attacks on Thornton Heath area; public morale; listening to radio. Aspects of enlistment and training with Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) in GB, 1942-1943: enlistment, 11/11/1942; how he got out of his Reserved Occupation; basic training at Chester. REEL 2 Continues: Christmas celebrations at Chester, 25/12/1942; machine gun training and transfer to anti-aircraft coy; move to mortar platoon; move to 70th Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own) at Hounslow; wounding by Home Guard members at Hounslow and subsequent retaliation. Aspects of period as private with 1st (Machine Gun) Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div in GB, 1943-1944: joining battalion at Amersham; amusing story of becoming stickman; joining 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div at Otley; amusing story of Churchill Tank colliding with barn during training in Yorkshire Dales; Highland games in Pool-in-Wharfdale; amusing story of tampering with piper's bagpipes; issue of Mortar Bomb Mk II; waterproofing vehicles at Brighton. Recollections of operations as private with 1st (Machine Gun) Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div in Normandy, France, 6/1944: arrival in Normandy, 6/1944; role as driver-batman for Captain Townend; transfer to 15 Platoon in D Coy; crossing English Channel in landing ship tank; character of beach landing; question of presence of female sniper in woods; battalion's role during Operation Epsom, 26/6/1944-30/6/1944. REEL 3 Continues: night shoot with mortars during Operation Epsom, 26/6/1944-30/6/1944; effect of German counter-fire; memories of company clerk, Morrie Breeze; contact with United States Army troops; capture of Soviet troops serving with German Army; opinion of company commander; impressions of 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend prisoners of war; attitude of Canadian Army troops towards 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend; impressions of carnage in Falaise Gap; opinion of Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoons; crossing River Seine at Vernon. Recollections of operations as private with 15 Platoon, D Coy, 1st (Machine Gun) Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own), 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div in North West Europe, 8/1944-2/1945: in action at Geel on Escaut Canal; method of crossing Escaut Canal; reaction to not being awarded Military Medal at Geel, 9/1944; role of 15th (Scottish) Infantry Div during Operation Market Garden, 9/1944; narrow escape when Sten Gun jammed; accidental deaths in battalion; move to The Island, Netherlands, 10/1944. REEL 4 Continues: relations with Dutch civilians; sight of German Air Force jets and V2 Rockets on The Island, Netherlands; infantry role on River Maas, Netherlands; ablution facilities winter, 1944-1945; story of soldier who provoked fire by trying to tamper with German corpse; impressions of Operation Pepperpot prior to attack on Siegfried Line, Germany; suitability of German bungalows for defence; reasons for reluctance to use German trenches in Reichswald Forest, Germany, 2/1942; German monitoring of signals at Goch, Germany; story of leave in Brussels, Belgium and reasons for detention by Corps of Military Police; wounding by German mortar fire at Goch, Germany, 28/2/1945; medical evacuation for wounds and treatment he received at Casualty Clearing Station. REEL 5 Continues: story of how unit forced civilian doctor to deliver Dutch baby. Aspects of hospitalisation for wounds in Belgium and GB, 1945: evacuation to United States Army Medical Corps hospital; Purple Heart issue; question of how American manufactured boots promoted trench foot; nature of Royal Air Force flight to GB; regrading as B1 and posting to East Africa. Reflections on military service: attitude to having served with 1st (Machine Gun) Bn Middlesex Regt (Duke of Cambridge's Own) in Second World War; question of re-adjusting to civilian life after Second World War; attitude towards Germans in Second World War; story of shooting German Army soldier in Normandy, France; story of detecting bomb happy Germans in Belgium.